Safe House tops the US box office

Edges The Vow into second place

Safe House has hit the top of the US box office by the narrowest of margins, squeezing The Vow into second spot by a mere $300,000 according to the latest estimates.

The Denzel Washington starring thriller racked up $23.9 million during President’s Day weekend, edging out The Vow on $23.6 million. Both those films had been expected to be threatened by Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance , but even Nic Cage at his most unhinged couldn’t put enough bums on seats, with a $22 million take leaving it in third.

Affable adventure sequel Journey 2 continued to perform solidly with a $20 million weekend, whilst This Means War made $17.5 million in fifth. The drop-off to sixth place was fairly severe with the re-released Star Wars: Episode One adding just $7.86 million to the pot. Apparently even Jar-Jar’s appeal wears off eventually…

Chronicle reached the $50 million mark with a $7.5 million weekend, whilst Daniel Radcliffe chiller The Woman In Black took $6.6 million in eighth spot. The Secret World Of Arrietty and The Grey complete the top ten with $6.3 and $3 million respectively.

Next week sees Amanda Seyfried’s missing persons thriller Gone go head to head with Paul Rudd comedy Wanderlust . Can Safe House hang on for another week? We’ll find out next Monday…